Norcross talks about Camden police, charter schools

If Cooper University Hospital chairman George E. Norcross 3d could have his way, Camden City would start sprouting charter schools and the police department would be disbanded to make way for a county force.

Those are just some of the ideas Norcross - one of the most influential Democrats in the state, who for years has stayed behind the scenes - has recently discussed openly with anyone who will listen.

He has held a series of community group meetings and written newspaper commentaries on education reform. He attended a graduation ceremony alongside Gov. Christie and spoke at length with reporters last month following a Christie news conference introducing "transformation" schools.

On Monday, he sat down with the Inquirer Editorial Board to discuss ideas to improve Camden. This time, he added his take on public safety.

"Camden's fate and Cooper's fate are inseparable," he said Monday.

If people don't feel safe going to Camden for medical services, that will harm Cooper's reputation, and discussions would likely resurface about moving the medical center to the suburbs, as other hospitals have done, he said.

Camden could be safer, Norcross said, if it had more police officers on the ground. That, he said, could be accomplished by moving to a countywide police force.

If the Camden Police Department were disbanded, the county could start a police department from scratch without inheriting the high pension and benefit costs the city now pays, Norcross said.

A single officer with salary, pension and benefits costs the city about $140,000 per year, while a sergeant and higher ranked officers cost $200,000 or more, according to city spokesman Robert Corrales.

County officials, including Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr., have proposed dividing a county force into a number of police districts and special operations, such as a detective bureau and K-9 unit. Camden City would be its own district.

Norcross acknowledged that a county police force could "take years and years" to become reality.

Quicker change, he said, could come in education.

For the last few months, Norcross has urged the passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D., Camden), which is pending in both houses. It creates a five-year pilot program providing tax credits to private-sector entities that give scholarships to children from districts such as Camden to attend private schools or public schools in other districts.

He also supports a controversial bill, which the Assembly has passed, that would allow private and parochial schools to convert to charter schools.

A lot of South Jersey parochial schools are "beginning to find themselves on the financial short end of the stick," he said.

A third alternative to standard public education would be a recently proposed, Christie-backed idea that would let school boards turn over failing schools to for-profit or nonprofit management companies. Like charter schools, "transformation" schools would receive 90 percent of the per-pupil funding that goes to traditional public schools.

Norcross predicted that an increase in charter and transformation schools would increase competition among Camden's public school teachers and therefore improve the city's remaining public schools.

Current teachers' "positions are not threatened. Once they are, they will start performing at a higher level," he said.

Community groups have yet to endorse Norcross' proposals. But neither are they opposing him, he said.

"They are crying for change," he said.